1 Snowden asylum: Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency analyst who fled to Russia last year after releasing reams of secret U.S. government documents, has applied to extend his temporary asylum, his lawyer told Russian news agencies Wednesday. Anatoly Kucherena, the lawyer, said he had asked the Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service to permit Snowden to remain in Russia after his initial one-year asylum expires on July 31.

2 Syria conflict: Syrian rebels rampaged through a Sunni village in the central province of Hama on Wednesday, firing indiscriminately at civilians and killing 14 people, including seven women, state media and opposition activists said. The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad's rule. It deteriorated into an armed revolt after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent. It became a civil war in which Islamic extremists, including foreign fighters and Syrian rebels, who have taken up hard-line al Qaeda-style ideologies, have played an increasingly prominent role among the fighters.

3 Travel ban: France plans to ban citizens suspected of links to radical Islamic groups from leaving the country in a new bill aimed at strengthening antiterrorist legislation. The draft bill unveiled Wednesday would allow authorities to stop French nationals from traveling if they are suspected of having links to a jihadist network. It would also allow investigators to question and charge people with individual terrorist plans, often described as "lone wolves." The government is concerned to prevent attacks by individuals returning from Syria. Around 600 French nationals are in Syria to fight with radical Islamic groups or are planning to go there, according to the Interior Ministry.

4 2-inch hedgehog: In an ancient lake bed in British Columbia, scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of a hedgehog just 2 inches long. They named it Silvacola acares, which means "tiny forest dweller." The first of its species ever found, it is also the smallest hedgehog known to science - about the size of a modern-day shrew. This little guy was so small that that his back molars were just 1 millimeter in length. His bones were so delicate that the researchers were worried the fossil would break apart if they tried to get it out of the rock.

5 Pilot charged: A Ukrainian air force pilot who was captured by separatist rebels last month has been arrested in Russia and charged with abetting the killing of two Russian journalists, Russian officials said on Wednesday. Russia's Investigative Committee said Wednesday that 31-year-old pilot Nadezhda Savchenko is suspected of tipping off Ukrainian troops as to the whereabouts of the journalists as well as other unspecified "civilians" who were in a rebel-held area.

6 North Korea missiles: North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday morning into the sea off its east coast, a South Korean defense official said, in a continuation of a recent series of missile and rocket test launches. The missiles, presumed to Scud-series missiles, were fired from the southwest Hwanghae province and flew across the country before landing in the ocean, the official said, requesting anonymity, citing department rules. The missiles have a range of 310 miles, he said.